Officials say transferring the prisoners is a necessary step to manage prison populations and make needed upgrades and additions to the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge.

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The state's prison capacity problem has worsened over the last year, with hundreds of inmates waiting in county jails for a bed to open up in prison.

Eastern Washington hosts the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks after Andrew Cook scored 21 points in Eastern Washington's 74-64 loss to the Montana State Bobcats.

Totals 31-60 10-13 81. Halftime_Montana 46-41. 3-Point Goals_N. Arizona 7-18 (Bowser 3-4, Baker 2-2, Campisano 1-1, Jackson 1-3, Abelman 0-1, Fort 0-1, McLaughlin 0-6), Montana 9-20 (Moore 3-7 ...

Get any of our free daily email newsletters — news headlines, opinion, e-edition, obituaries and more. For each of the past two years, Montana’s Department of Corrections has sent 120 ...

Totals 31-60 10-13 81. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Halftime_Montana 46-41. 3-Point Goals_N. Arizona 7-18 (Bowser 3-4, Baker 2-2, Campisano 1-1, Jackson 1-3, Abelman 0-1 ...

Montana State Bobcats (13-2, 3-0 Big Sky) at Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (12-4, 3-0 Big Sky) Flagstaff, Arizona; Saturday, 4 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: Northern Arizona faces Montana State after ...

Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (10-6, 1-2 Big Sky) at Montana State Bobcats (5-11, 0-3 Big Sky) Bozeman, Montana; Saturday, 8 p.m. EST BOTTOM LINE: Northern Arizona visits Montana State after Jayden Jackson scored 22 points in Northern Arizona's 81-76 loss to the Montana Grizzlies.

Percentages: FG .390, FT .500. 3-Point Goals: 6-23, .261 (Patterson 2-4, McMahon 1-2, Zephir 1-2, Goracke 1-3, Lecholat 1-4, Miller 0-1, Walker 0-1, Agbonkpolo 0-3 ...

Northern Arizona Lumberjacks (11-8, 2-4 Big Sky) at Eastern Washington Eagles (6-13, 2-4 Big Sky) Cheney, Washington; Thursday, 9 p.m. EST BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Eagles -2.5; over/under is 149 BOTTOM LINE: Eastern Washington hosts Northern Arizona after Andrew Cook scored 21 points in Eastern Washington's 74-64 loss to the Montana State Bobcats.

Proponents have long argued that the circuit covers too much territory and too many people and its docket is unmanageable; critics say the current system isn’t broken and motivations for the split are merely political.